Industry 5.0 is changing the skills people need at work. As jobs are reshaped by automation, AI, data and new ways of working, learning can no longer focus only on fixed roles or technical knowledge. Workers and students also need opportunities to build adaptability, collaboration and problem-solving skills in the workplace.

The BRIDGES 5.0 Teaching and Learning Factory interventions support this by creating practical, hands-on learning experiences that address real-world problems, preparing workers and students for a changing world of work in which they need to learn quickly, adapt, and collaborate across roles and disciplines.

Teaching Factory

A dynamic exchange where industry practitioners teach students, and students and faculty teach practitioners. This collaboration occurs online over an extended period, featuring regular sessions and continuous interaction between industry and academia.

Learning Factory

A concept where university facilities replicate manufacturing environments, enabling collaboration between academia and industry in specific courses aimed at imparting manufacturing concepts, trends, and knowledge in an academic setting. It resembles a hands-on workshop.

Bridges 5.0 Teaching and Learning Factory Interventions

Why shop-floor tech doesn’t always stick—and what ERREKA tried to change

Infineon: Building Human-Centric Skills for Remote Operations

How Austria’s Smart Production Lab reimagined itself for Industry 5.0

Bringing Industry 5.0 into Smart Manufacturing training

Four-step process infographic showing: Step 1 Specification, Step 2 Design, Step 3 Implementation, Step 4 Evaluation, connected by orange arrows.
TLF 5.0 interventions in the center with eight driver boxes around it (Attitudes shifted, Upskilling achieved, Coordination, HC innovation, Co-design works, HC-S-R integrated as a bundle, Mentality shifted, Transferability) connected by arrows to the central node.

Teaching Factories.

Name of organisation Comau S.p.A.
Country Italy
Sector Robotics & Automation in manufacturing
Main activity Automation and robotics
Focus of intervention  An outdoor automation solution to improve quality, performance and well-being during labor-intensive welding operations

Summary of the problem and the intervention

The focus is on agility of welders; enhancing this requires a mobile robotic welding solution in collaboration with operators. The aim of the intervention is to prepare a workforce that can use enhanced processes to improve quality, performance and well-being during labour-intensive welding tasks.

Benefits

  • Workers developed confidence in human-robot collaboration
  • Improved safety awareness and training procedures
  • Technology redesign initiated
Name of organisation Infineon Technologies Austria AG
Country Austria
Sector Semiconductors
Main activity Semiconductors manufacturing
Focus of intervention  Changing the operational setup with centralized remote control and multiple data-based decision-making

Summary of the problem and the intervention

The problem is that the workforce is not used to work with system provided decision proposals, from multiple sources, in a centralized manner. The intervention focuses on employees empowerment to facilitate the work performed within the new organizational and operational structure. It also focuses on technologies that support the decision-making process, as the goal is for employees to receive data from different areas and make the best decision.

Benefits:

  • Enhanced communication and collaboration across different factory areas
  • Workers experienced the new setup as more fulfilling and clearer in responsibilities
  • Foundation established for AI-supported decision making
Name of organisation Matz-Erreka S. Coop.
Eika S. Coop.
Mondragon S. Coop.
Country Spain
Sector Manufacturing
Main activity A wide range of parts for applications in different sectors such as automotive or bio-health/domestic appliances for the cooking sector
Focus of intervention  Workplace improvement to foster attitudinal and behavioural changes

Summary of the problem and the intervention

The problem for both companies is how to design the workplace so that people are empowered and benefit from the automation process. The intervention aims to address any employee skills shortages that limit the adoption of new technology. This means that they are trained in automation in such a way that they can easily incorporate this knowledge into their professional daily life.

Benefits:

  • Managers developed new understanding of how organisational design enables worker empowerment
  • Agreement on integrating digital workflows into daily operations
  • Shift toward human-centric management practices
Name of organisation Kitron UAB
Hybrid Labs UAB
Country Lithuania
Sector Batteries
Main activity Electronics manufacturing Services
Focus of intervention  Empowerment of employees about decision-making and working with digital technologies

Summary of the problem and the intervention

The problem is to keep employees motivated in their work subject by expanding the educational process with different scenarios and changing the work roles in them. The intervention aims to provide skills to workers and make them want to be at the center of managing and operating machinery with wider decision-making authority.

Benefits:

  • New structured onboarding system with peer-to-peer learning methodology
  • Workers better informed, more confident in daily workflows
  • More meaningful and engaging work environment